Remembering the Radio Patrols of Western North Carolina

This is a blog version of a Facebook posting originally posted November 1, 2023. In the early 1970s, “radio patrol” units were operating in such western North Carolina counties as McDowell, Mitchell, and Yancey. These were volunteer organizations whose members were each equipped with two-way citizen band (CB) radios, and one or more people monitoring …

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Mutual Aid to Greensboro, 1936

This is a blog version of an earlier Facebook posting. Mutual aid to Greensboro, April 1936. From a reader, after a tornado struck the Gate City on April 2, 1936, neighboring fire departments responding to render aid, including Asheboro, Burlington, Graham, High Point, Reidsville, and Winston-Salem. State Fire Marshal Sherwood Brockwell also responded, to help …

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Firehouse Expo South in Charlotte

This is a blog version of an earlier Facebook posting. We recently received and digitized a pair of program books from the Great American Firehouse Exposition and Muster South, held in Charlotte in May 1988 and May 1989. Both are fabulous snapshots of the late eighties fire service. They were gifted by a fellow history …

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The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations

The first fire department building in Wrightsville Beach was located in the 400 block of Waynick Boulevard, along with the police department, town hall, and coast guard station.  Building erected in [goes here] Fire chief had residence upstairs Town hall and police station was next door. The original building was a small, wood frame cottage …

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Raleigh-Wake County Rescue Medic Proposal, 1976

This is an updated version of a blog archives posting from April 2011. Let’s go back in time to 1976, when city and county officials were working to provide a better level of emergency medical service to residents of Raleigh and its suburban areas outside the city limits. Funeral homes hadn’t transported patients for about …

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Comparing Charlotte’s SouthPark and Raleigh’s Metropolitan Fires

Let’s comparing and contrasting Charlotte’s SouthPark fire (May 2023) and Raleigh’s Metropolitan fire (March 2017). See our prior posting about the Charlotte fire.      Charlotte SouthPark Fire May 18, 2023 7740 Liberty Row Drive Five alarms Raleigh Metropolitan Fire March 16, 2017 400 W. North Street Five alarms Building Apartments under construction Seven stories, …

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Johnston County Foam Units

This content was originally posted on Facebook in May 2020. In the late 1970s, the first foam unit in Johnston County was created as a project of the Johnston County Firemen’s Association. The tractor-drawn tanker had a circa 1970 White 4000 tractor and a 1957 Heil tanker body, 6000 gallons, that had been modified to …

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